


The Old Fox

by Piccola_Poe



Category: Red Dead Redemption (Video Games)
Genre: Attempted Murder, Blood, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Forced Turning, M/M, Mentions of Rape, Murder, Vampires
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-10
Updated: 2020-01-19
Packaged: 2021-02-26 20:34:24
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 10
Words: 8,512
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21744892
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Piccola_Poe/pseuds/Piccola_Poe
Summary: Dutch refuses to let Hosea go. Even after death, we shall not part.
Relationships: Hosea Matthews/Dutch van der Linde, John Marston/Arthur Morgan
Kudos: 42





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Comments 100% welcome.  
> It may seem like my stories run on only vampire content alone, but these are old ideas.

Looking through the dirty pane of glass Hosea’s expression became as bleak as the cold night that was befalling the cabin. Swallowing the hard, depressing lump that formed in his throat. Knowing that he had doomed his son to the same ill-fate as Dutch would soon have his hands on both of them.

Dutch with those strong but rough hands that once danced and nails lightly scratching across any access of his flesh that Dutch could obtain.

Hosea damns the gods that allowed him to walk into the darkness, but what did he expect as he always had walked a dangerous path.

Bessie. Everything always leads back to Bessie. The anniversary that came and went every year, the anniversary of their wedding and the night of her death. How humorous it was that he hungers for her flesh but was quenched by another just as dead.

Hosea’s foggy thoughts soon broken by scratching on the dirty window lo and behold in the corner was Dutch Vander Linde himself. There was no point in expressing anything; it's just how one became on this job after years of so, emotions and expression usually end up in a swift ending from this existence.

Luckily Hosea was a quick learner from his days as a con-man. Not that he retired from it, the hunter and con-man worked well together.

“This my dear friend has been a long time coming” Dutch’s voice boomed through the glass.

“It seems so” Hosea responded, closing his eyes as he slowly withdraws back into the middle of the cabin. “I thought it would come sooner or later.”

“Come, come now. Why so hostile can’t a friend visit a friend,” Dutch said, oh and how Hosea could all most imagine the smile on Dutch’s face. He knew just how much Dutch loved his pray to be trapped and helpless, and god damn they're where.

Everything had been lost or used escaping; this had been everything Hosea feared for years now. The enemy was so strong; they had would overpower, Dutch would take this opportunity to catch them. Hosea had wanted Arthur to get away, but that dumb boy of his stayed by his side and only ended up getting hurt himself, now he lay in bed with a high fever and his body fighting off the infection from his injuries.

What was he to do? Hosea had thought of many things and knew nothing would help, but he guessed maybe something was worth trying. “OK, ok” Hosea replied as he walked to the small wooden door, “Dutch there's no use here fighting. Now, why don’t you back off a bit and I’ll be out in a minute.” The door covered in whatever he could find to make a trap so last minute.

“Ha, now see here. My dear friend,” Dutch said as he was starting to get annoyed “You’ve had your time, and I know your games, so just be good and stay right where you are.” 

“Stay where I am” Hosea threw some sarcasm in “What do you think I’m Dutch, a dog, your wife.”

“No. I know what you are Hosea, you’re a clever fox and always will be.” As silence slowly grew between them, for ten minutes before Dutch’s impatientness showed. “I'm coming in. Hosea, So arm yourself whatever you can find.” 

There was a groaning, protesting sound of the door, then banging and popping of the traps. A violent cursing from the back door, they were coming from all sides. In minutes, the door hit the floor, at the same time all the kerosene lamp glasses shattered and blew out simultaneously. 

Hosea unsheathed his hunting knife, only to be thrown violently into the nearest wall and shaken like a rag doll. The sound of the hunting knife clattering on the hard wooden floor disturbed the dust, gasping and kicking limbs as ragged, talon-like hands gripped his inflamed skin. 

“I’m not here to take anything from you, but you may waste every bit of strength that you have,” Dutch spoke in a quiet but smooth tone. “I’ve always wanted you by my side.”

“Ha, what about Micah, Dutch. what about our family.” Hosea question with every amount of doubt that he could manage with his expression and tone. 

“I know how you felt about that old friend, but I fixed it,” Dutch said with his overwhelming level of pride. “Honestly you can trust me, I did right this time.” He could hear the little boy inside of the man wanting praise again. _I did the thing you asked me to, now reward me with admiration._ It made Hosea sick; you don’t get to be a man by doing things and expecting praise at every corner. Only little boys wanted that. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like this could have been better, but I'm a little exhausted with it.


	2. Chapter 2

Hosea must have passed out from the exhaustion. Worn as thin as paper, little sleep, little rest, little sanity left and with no help from age, he felt like the dog’s favour bone. The wind was still battering the old cabin; everything was aching now, the bruises, with the rawness of his skin, felt like being pulled bare ass over rocks. He tried to sit up only to find that he was tied down to this old solid oak bed frame.

“We would not want to see you get hurt old friend,” Dutch said from the corner of sitting in a chair beside the bed.

“And when will you learn that your rot is not welcome here.” Hosea spat at him.

“Oh and we do have a right old angry fox do we not.” Dutch just laughed and turned to the doorway to see John standing there; he looked uncomfortable and would not meet Hosea’s eyes. “Trapped in a cage of his own making.”

“Ha, that is some shit you sure have running around in your head Dutch.” Hosea continued when he could see John better. “You did a bad thing, son.”

“And when did we do good. Was I meant just to let Arthur die?” John whispered.

“I can not advise you anymore, son.” Hosea sighed. “You were not to good at listening sometimes, but I guess that was my fault.”

“Now you two just leave each other alone for a while.” Dutch cut in like he always did. “The old man and I have to talk.” He glared at John, John understood everything that was happening and what Dutch was asking him to do, but John looked too scared to leave Hosea alone with Dutch.

Dutch was fuming with anger and betrayal at Hosea; John did not know how Dutch was going to handle this situation.

Dutch had been listing to that dam Micah Bell all the goddam time, and everything went to shit. Dutch had started acting crazy, and Hosea had just lost it and shot Micah, then ran off with Arthur after it.

No one in the gang cared about Micah getting shot; the bastard did not even know how to bloody die properly. There Micah lay bloody, dirty, and slowly his life running away. At first, he was all civil about Dutch saving him. Then demanding that Dutch change him into a vampire because Dutch was not doing anything and at first John thought that Dutch would.

Dutch just stood over the bastard and said a calm and cold “No.” then walked away as Micah spewed out every piece of venom that he had left. The men of the gang just stood around watching this fucker die. When he got desperate, he started begging, pleading them to help him out, and when no one would. He went to cursing them before dying. 

Hosea was Dutch’s partner in crime. Dutch was not too happy about the whole thing. Being proven wrong with violence and abandonment, then he was left here to feel like a dog whose owner had rubbed shit in its nose.

John had hoped that Dutch would just let Hosea go. No Dutch made them hunt them down like dogs and John had hated every minute and hour of it. Hosea was a father figure to him, just as much as Dutch had been until he turned rotten. Arthur was his brother, who John secretly loved. John understood why Arthur had gone with Hosea; He was afraid for the old man life. When push comes to shove, deep down, they were Hosea’s boys. Who knew who Dutch Van der Linde was any more or trying to be.

When they had found the old cabin, John knew that the whole place had been booby-trapped. Hosea was not a man to cross. A master con artist, gentleman and thief, intelligent and witty and a dam good vampire hunter, but it seems that his heart was not in it this time. The traps had been good yes, would have killed any other vampire, but not them. It was all a warning to stay away from; nothing was going to stop Dutch, Hosea was in big trouble for sure. 

When they had finally gotten in, Dutch pounced on Hosea shaking the older man like a ragdoll, when Hosea passed out, John started to try and pull Dutch off him. John thought that he had killed the man at first, but it was clear that Hosea was so exhausted.

“Don’t Dutch.” John pleaded

“I do not know what you are talking or thinking about John, but you best keep that to yourself now.” Dutch didn’t need to say any more John knew that he could win this one. John back away, he felt like chicken shit for doing it too. 


	3. Chapter 3

Hosea’s dumb luck had helped him get to old age, but only just, so many run-ins and close calls in his past.

The Van der Linde gang was mostly vampires, sired by Dutch Van der Linde or some other. Hosea had been a hunter, and it was a hard way of living, he had to become a con artist to survive.

At some point, Dutch Van der Linde met and befriended him, because they had tried to rob each other and somehow a common bond had been built. Dutch and Hosea decided to partner up and later formed their gang from there.

But Dutch had a little secret he claimed to be a Dhampir. Colm O'Driscoll was a Dhampir, his brother wasn’t he was a stepbrother, but O'Driscoll would kill anyone who thought or said that.

Hosea had started trying to find information on Dhampirs, history on them, was just stories and folklore. No Dutch couldn’t be a Dhampir because things that annoyed the vampire, where slowly annoying Dutch as he got older. Hosea has once heard that there were different ways a vampire could reproduce. Reproduction is mainly through turning humans into another vampire by making them drink their blood. However, Vampires can reproduce through sexual intercourse. Sexual intercourse between vampires and humans rarely produce any birth, but for the mother surviving the delivery was the deciding factor. If she lived, it was a Dhampir; if she didn’t, it would be a newborn vampire.

Sexual intercourse between vampires and humans rarely produce any birth, but some of them tried anyway. The gestation is only a few weeks, and the pain is almost unbearable for the mother. If the mother is human, The child comes out of her womb by tearing her entrails, but if the mother were a vampire, she would regenerate. The newborn vampire will quickly grow into an adult vampire in only a few months. But so many vampires considered the act of sexual intercourse for giving birth to be repulsive and not the natural way of the creation of vampires. So there was not much to go by, no name for this creature and only small talk about it. Mostly in the form of a warning of not to do it. The Dhampir had mercy by their kind. Merely because a human mother could make them, reproduction always was heavily controlled; there was some intervention in the birth to ensure that the mother lived. Only a few could be born anyway as it was hard in getting pregnant.

Hosea knew that Dutch was a newborn vampire born by sinful ways in the eyes of his kind. The truth would come out when Dutch had to return home to Blackwater. Hosea would meet Greta van der Linde herself; she was a vampire and Dutch’s father had been a human. Dutch had not meant for Hosea and Greta to meet each other, but Greta had come to Hosea on her own accord. Dutch had been a way to meet his uncle and left the gang to enjoy themselves for the night. Hosea had a headache, and he left the others alone to their doings; a good rest was all that was on Hosea’s mind as he was walking up the stairs and down the hallway to his room. Upon closing the door he knew he was not alone, turning around as quickly as possible, he saw a young lady sitting in the only chair in the room by the open window.

“Now, Miss. I hope that nothing is going to happen tonight, is it?” Hosea asked the pretty young woman with the long black hair and pink lips.

“Oh, of course, not dear.” She responded quietly. “I just wanted to see who Dutch’s friend was.”

“Hosea Matthews,” he said as he bowed politely to the lady. “It is a charming night tonight, is it not.” Hosea knew that you could not just go on polite manners of the humankind with vampires, but you still had to be polite. “I am sorry I did not catch your name?”

“I am Greta van der Linde; it is nice to meet you at last Mr Matthews.” She said, standing up and walking up to him, and looked into his eyes, maybe looking into his soul at some point. “I wish Dutch could have just introduced you to me himself; it is insulting not to introduce your friends to your mother.” 

Hosea was no idiot he had put it together quite quickly. “We must meet up tomorrow night for dinner then, I insist.” A scorned mother and an angry vampire who had claimed this town as her own. Dutch had been rude by not saying that he was bringing his gang with him. If she had not been such a smart woman, she could have seen this as an attack and killed them all.

“That would be lovely dear, just Dutch and yourself tomorrow night at my house; Dutch will show you where I live. Goodnight Mr Matthews.” She smiled at him as they parted ways for the night. Dammit there was going to be some up evil later tonight, all Hosea wanted to do was sleep to kill the throbbing in his head, and now he had all of this shit to sort up.

Dutch came back later in the night when the whole town was still and the night workers gently crawled around like rats when they have found a new place to infest. He found Hosea asleep still in his clothes on top of the bed. He was lightly touching his shoulder as to stir the man. “Hosea, wake up,” Dutch whispered.

“So you can tell by the lingering presence who was here,” Hosea said effected by sleep as he rolled over to look at Dutch who sat on the side of the bed. “You did a ridiculous thing Dutch.”

  
“I did not think that she would get upset about me visiting.”

  
“Dutch you brought a gang into her territory, her son or not you broke some fundamental rules.” If Dutch was looking for sympathy, he was not going to find it here. Hosea's father taught him about vampires from a young age. Some vampires were a disease to society, and others were like ordinary people with different laws. “She wants us to visit her tomorrow night at her home. Now if you do not mind, some of us need sleep Dutch.” 

Dutch just needed someone to anchor him. They both lacked something that the other had, it did not mean that they could not survive without each other, but together things worked. A flowing river needs a channel to the sea. Both men had gone to Greta van der Linde’s dinner, all worked out in the end, and she enjoyed her time with them. Even if Dutch was a little bit argumentative with her, which Hosea rolled his eyes and continued kicking him under the table until his leg was sore.

Time did fly. Arthur Morgan was growing up and becoming quite a good looking man, but if anyone called him a pretty boy and the name-caller was male, the whole town would know about the idiot who dared to say what he shouldn’t say to a stranger. Without knowing the strength of the other was an idiot who would lose property unlawfully to those who could take. Hosea always told him to try and find the stakes in every game and life.

It was no wonder Dutch gave him the name silver fox, the silver part was not to do with his age, but his knowledge that he carried around from a young man to an adult. Hosea always seemed to get the lesson and understand it.

The fox part of it was because the man is a master con artist, gentleman and thief. Dutch only had three animals in mind when thinking up a name for Hosea, a fox, raccoon or a weasel, but he had hated raccoons and weasels, Dutch thought of these two animals as low lives of the animal world. Hosea informed him that he did not have enough respect for the animal's exceptional abilities and that’s why he did the hunting because only a real hunter, held the highest regard for the life that he was willing to take. He was glad that Arthur had taken that to heart as well. 

Soon a scrawny boy called John Marston, joined them after being saved from the noose and was doing fine now that he was with them. He followed Arthur around like a dog. Hosea had found it funny seeing Arthur trying to threaten the boy without meaning anything, by saying that he was going to throw him into the river if he did not stop trailing behind him. John was smart enough to know when Arthur did or did not mean it; the boy could read him like a book sometimes.

The boy half-listened to Hosea and Dutch like a young puppy learning, but he could be a wild feral wolf when he wanted to be. Which always left Dutch to say that John should have been a woman and called him Jolene to stir him up.

Dutch had once said when they were alone in his tent. _“That if one of them had been a lady, these are the kind of children they would have had.”_

Hosea would replyed. _“Well, I would have shot you dead years ago for all the cheating you ratbag.”_ And the two of them would laugh together as the day faded.

Dutch had found a girl called Annabelle and Hosea had been seeing a woman named Bessie. All seemed to be going along fine until it was not. Dutch killed the brother of his one-time associate Colm O'Driscoll, and in return, he took Annabelle's life. Her death would start a long-standing feud between the Van der Linde gang and the O'Driscoll Boys.

Hosea had been there for Dutch, which Dutch had leaned heavily upon him, this led to Hosea ending it with Bessie, for a short time as Dutch did not know about her and Hosea had believed it best to leave Bessie out of this dry pine forest that caught a spark and would be up in minutes. 

He never thought that in a million years that Bessie and himself would fall back together. It seemed like some fairytale and Hosea did not trust those things even if his life depended on it, and life was not a fairytale. Dutch was not happy with Hosea’s decisions to leave, and the boys felt like they felt pulled apart. Hosea had wanted to take them with him as a stable life would have taken them away from being thieves, murderers and gang members. Both boys felt that Dutch was too unstable to be left alone, so Hosea did not push them, but told them to come by anytime.

And boy did Dutch lose it. It always ended with Arthur or John coming to Hosea to set Dutch straight or kick his ass. Bessie had come to except what Hosea had to be to his homemade family and joined them. Then Bessie died, and for a year Hosea had been nothing but a drunk, which led Dutch to be the one to act this time.

Dutch had been very clingy with him, reminding Hosea again and again about just how foolish he was being and how dangerous it was. What ended it all was Dutch breaking down and said how much Hosea meant to him, Hosea knew it, but neither of them would say anymore. Their lingering moments, touching and no telling, but neither of them did it when they were in relationships, no if there was one thing about them was that they played honesty to their lovers. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some of the information in from Red Dead Redemption 3 and Vampyr wiki.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Are we all smart enough to know this is wrong, right?  
> If you do anything with anyone, it is 100% conversation and consent.  
> Do's and don'ts, sticking to them.  
> Not just doing it, plain it together, 100% more fun.  
> 100% do your research beforehand, and porn is not your teacher!!!  
> If they don't want too that's is fine.  
> Talk about it, maybe make a compromise or ask about open your relationship to find others who will.  
> If they still are not into it, leave it or end it.  
> If you need to do it, fulfil your desires.  
> Wear PROTECTION!!!!!
> 
> https://www.shamelesssex.com/  
> https://www.omgyes.com/
> 
> Must-reads  
> Come as you are by Emily Nagoski Ph D  
> Beyond the pill by Dr Jolene Brighten  
> http://wednesdaymartin.com/books/untrue/ good book  
> The Ethical Slut by Dossie Easton
> 
> IF you are going to go there  
> FIRST EDITION OF THE HISTORY & ARTS OF THE DOMINATRIX  
> by Anne O Nomis
> 
> Watch on youtube:  
> sexplanations  
> Come Curious  
> Watts The Safeword

No Hosea’s luck had just run out, the match was going to blow out. “No Dutch, please don’t,” Hosea said as he tried to pull his sore body up the bed. Dutch just watched him now from the end of the bed and slowly started to reach for him. “You promised.” Hosea cried out as he swatted Dutch's hand away.

“You broke yours first old friend,” Dutch argued, grabbing Hosea by the shoulders and forcing him back down onto the bed. Leaning closer and inhaling the familiar scent of Hosea that reminded him of the mountains and flesh pines.

Hosea knew his dam fate and no talking could get him out of it. Dutch would turn him on this night, and all he could hope for was that it failed. By dying before turning or becoming feral were the only means out now. A steady hand stroked over his own. The breath was warming touch to his cold neck, but Hosea’s eyes stayed glued to the sidewall. It starts with a pinch growing more painful until the teeth punctured through. Then his system panicking that an unnecessary amount of blood was leaving the body and increasing getting weaker and weaker. The final kicks of life with a slow surrender to lucid sleep.

Dutch cut his wrist and poured blood into Hosea’s mouth, watching it pool and helping it down by massaging the throat muscles, now there was the wait. That’s if Dutch could keep his hands to himself, he had not laid a finger on Hosea since Micah Bell had joined the gang. Hosea had been fucking mad with him about letting that man in, and Dutch wished that he could have seen this from the start. Dam that man to hell, he had upset his whole family and proved to the world that Dutch Van der Linde could be made a fool of and he swore that would never happen again.

Dutch was making a deliberate effort of removing Hosea’s clothing, everything was a mess now anyway, and he should help clean Hosea up, that is what good friends do anyway and what if a hand lingered too long or slipped somewhere.


	5. Chapter 5

John sat there with his face in his hands, producing a low, choked wheezing as he tried his best to channel out the sounds and projected emotions that Dutch sent his way. This punishment for lingering too long in the doorway. So John sat there trembling with cold sweat running down his body when Dutch had finally cut it off. John felt that he could breathe like a physically alive human again, gasping like a fish out of water. His hands where talent like claws going straight for his knees with the need to hold on to something tightly. He just needed to calm himself down; that’s all. No, he was not going to faint. No, he could and would hold it together, he had too.

John had secretly wished that Arthur had been awake and not at the beginning of changing. John felt shit for not being man enough, like Arthur to hold his shit together and he felt like a child for wanting the man who protected the gang, to be awake and telling him what to do. Arthur just made people feel safe.

Deciding to be an adult sucked, it was the worst mistake that he had ever made. Who was he to think that he would like not being in a group of people, you had levels of safety in a group. But sometimes being alone was fine, but outright leaving the protection net was stupid, he had to watch his own back all the time, and you have to be overcautious with everything you do.

John had left because Abigail accused him of being the father of her son. Which was a fucking lie, he had only ever fucked her in the back. She knew, and Dutch knew. It wasn’t fucking his. She had just picked him because he was a pushover. If they both couldn’t have Arthur, no one would. But he couldn’t just yell out that he loved Arthur and didn’t fuck the front. Shit, imagine the shit the group would give him for it. So he left, and the gang was still shitty at him for leaving them. Once he had decided to return and take the blame, Dutch had felt fatherly enough to let him back in with warm arms and Dutch had indeed missed the kid. Sure he had loved them both, but John always had a little something that reminded Dutch of himself.

When playing families to pull off a heist, people thought that John was his biological son and it made Dutch look like a bird puffing up his feathers, or so Hosea had said to them when Dutch wasn’t listening, they had just laughed at it then. But now John wishes that Dutch had not of done that because Arthur called him the golden boy now and there was a distance between them. John had hated it. He could not get near Arthur without him being mad, but Arthur never really told him the truth behind his anger, just blaming him for leaving his child, but there was more and Arthur was not going to say. 

Dutch turned him after the wolfs had caught him up on the mountain. One of his wounds became infected, which had left him with a fever and near-deaths door. Not that Hosea and Arthur had been too happy about it, they didn’t want John to die, but they did not want John to become a vampire either. There was no telling what John would become with his temper and John could understand that now. Sitting here, watching Arthur and fearing what he would become.

It was all a roll of the dice. Will you be a vampire or a hungry monster. If John knew how to pray, he would. If Arthur had to die tonight, let it be quick and let the lord take his soul. He was not that bad of a man for god's sake and if he turned to let him be strong-willed and whole. All John could do overthink everything and continue begging nothing, for something or anything. 


	6. Chapter 6

Hosea tried to scream, but the shock robbed his voice, he was unable to move. His lungs felt tight like being plunged into freezing water, his skin with every bruise and cut was like a deer hide left in salt, everywhere was burning; it was a mixture of being on fire with a kick to the balls. Hosea tried again to breathe with little success, a hand seized his left arm just above the elbow in a firm grip and pulled him up.

“Hey now, it’s going to be alright now.” A voice soothed as a hand ran through his hair and tucked it behind his ear. Hosea looked around and recognised that he didn't see anything, but he was sure that his eyes were open, had he gone blind. “It just takes some time to get everything back. You’ll see it again in no time.”

Hosea reached out and gripped the man’s wrist. He was not yet capable of being without another around. “Undescribable nightmare. That I would sell my soul to end.” He gasped with crippling waves of pain, hitting him like a rock at sea. “I think I’m going to be sick.”

“No, you’re not,” the man said as blurry silhouettes danced around in his line of vision. “You don’t have anything to be sick with; you are out of everything.”

Hosea through his head back onto the pillows and tried to craw his own throat out. Something told him deep down that he could do it very quickly now. Unlike a spoon on a stone wall, something said that his neck was like old sun-faded cotton curtains and he was a knife ready to cut clean.

“Hey, now. Stop that kind of thinking.” The voice broke in, with a trimmer of anger and grief. Those strong hands grabbed his hands around his throat and yanked them to the side, restraining them. “Don’t make me tie you back up.”

Everything was clear now; it was like surviving a near-death experience and seeing a new day again. Hosea knew too well about those kinds of days, but this was not that, everything was different.

“This is not like anything you would have known before.” The voice answered every thought, as an arm wrapped around his shoulders and hugged him gently. “Everything is going to be different now. The senses bombarded him. “I have a plan. Everything is going to be fine if we follow the plan..”

“What have you done, Dutch.” Hosea worlded around like a cracked whip. He could see that he was entirely naked with only a thin sheet on top of him. Hosea had his wits back, and Dutch was not going to get away with shit now. “You turned me, didn’t you!” He yelled at Dutch, breaking the hold, Hosea could feel his temper and fangs growing. A liquor burned inside of his throat. He gagged, spraying blood across his sheets. He was bound to Dutch by blood now, and this was a warning.

“Come on; you need some time to get used to things; everything will be fine.” He replied firmly. “You’ll see.” Hosea swallowed, hard, as a tear dropped from his face. Dutch’s eyes softened as he tried again to comfort him.


	7. Chapter 7

John physically felt like he was going to be sick; he tried to use some mind tactics to will his brain into thinking all is fine. As the approaching thud of Dutch’s boots where heard coming towards the door. He was frozen. He sat there, hands still on the edge of his knees, his legs wide open, watching the old dusty wooden floorboards below his feet. 

John heard a rustle of cloth thrown to the ground and the doorknob turning along with the usual cracking and squeaking sounds of an old door opening. It echoed through him and just left him trembling.

The boots thudded right up to him, as a hand placed a bottle of blood between his open legs right near his Krutch. It stands there perfectly upright on the wooden chair, John never seemed to take up much room being such a skinny assed man as he was, so the bottle just sat with him, like a new weight adding to his already overburdened donkey of a conscious that he owned. 

“You know what has to be done, boy.” A low voice spoke from directly beside him. 

John just hummed and slowly nodded his head.

“Good and do not lose or break that bottle. I will not be here to help you clean up this mess.” Dutch said dryly. “ I want nothing to go wrong.” He emphasises the word wrong. John knew why Dutch was so ruffled up and angry, Dutch was a fool, even he knew it now, and God helps any man stupid enough to stand in his way. Dutch was holding the reins of this runaway horse, and his hands would bear the brunt of it until Hosea and Arthur had the pony express back on track. “I have things to do now. Handle this right for once, John.” His hand just gripped John’s shoulder in a tight squeeze. “Don’t do me wrong, John.”

“Yeah, I got it,” John said quietly.

“Good boy,” Dutch said, smiling as he ruffled the boy's hair.

“Oh yeah, I got it.” John quietly murmured to himself, as Dutch closed the door and headed back in the direction he left. John knew that this was going to be a hard mission to accomplish; John should have run with his family when Arthur had told him too.  _ Too late now _ . Dutch had given this to him as a sign that Arthur wasn’t going to come along easy; it was time to feed him before he woke up. Standing up somehow and looking over at Arthur laying there on the bed, John rolled the bottle in his hands back and forth, slowly taking a step at a time.  _ Oh yeah, this was going to be fun _ .

He was feeding the big lug, making him do something that he didn’t want too.  _ Yeah, good idea Dutch _ . It’s not like he is going to revolt after this. He is going to bloody good rebel and maybe burn down the place with it, and John just knew it, Arthur had a temper, a bad one at that too. Arthur needed pushing toward it, of course, but it was there and a big beast it was. You don’t go poking a sleeping bear and expect nothing.

John was now kneeling by the bed and trying to get Arthur to open his mouth. Sucking in a harsh rush of air as he tilted the bottle up to Arthur’s mouth. “I don’t mean it, Arthur, whatever you may think of me. Please don’t hate me after this.” John whispered. “I just can’t bear it again.”  
  
It did not take long for Arthur’s new instincts tp take over and swallow the whole thing; John fell to his ass as the bottle hit the floor. John had to be encouraged when he woke up. He remembers Dutch pulling on his hair and telling him to stop fighting him and drink his first drops of blood on his own. John had resisted, and Arthur had plundered. Was this going to mean something wrong? _I bloody-well hope not_. 


	8. Chapter 8

“Hosea come on now. You know that I can not do it without you.” Dutch pleaded with Hosea, seeing the man break down for an hour was not what Dutch had hoped for, he always wanted his way, and he was not going to get it. 

“I wish you would have just grown up for once in your life.” Always the wise one of the two of them, Hosea started to recover as best as he could. Having a hard life had made Hosea the man that he was. Crying was a helpful healer, but was not going to help him beyond this situation. 

“I am grown up.” Dutch spluttered with his frustration levels slowly growing.

“No your not, just look at the way you behave,” Hosea yelled back like a trap snapping around a leg.

“Just how?” Dutch knew that he was walking on very shaky ground, but he was still going to push.

“You use to listen to me Dutch.” Hosea panted a little bit. “Now you run around making everything about you or nothing.”

“I’m here to make it right now.” He protested, reaching for the older man's hand.

“You made it right? No amount of saying no could have stopped you Dutch.” Hosea violently whipped his hand out of Dutch reaching.

“I know what I did, and I can never undo it, but I want to earn your trust back old friend.” There was that pleading voice again, and Hosea could see a wolf with teeth looking back at him. He had seen it before but never thought that Dutch would burn him the way he had done.

“There is a lot that you have to do.” Hosea knew how to play this game, and he was going to put his cards down to win this house. 

“I’ll do whatever you want,” Dutch said willingly and eager to please.

“What I want. You did not seem to care about it before,” those worlds whirled around inside, repeating again and again. Hosea was trying hard to keep himself to gather.

“I do care, I care so much,” Dutch begged, closing his eyes tightly and gripping the sheets as he tried hard not to get worked up. 

“Then leave us Dutch. The boys and me.” He bluntly through it out there. “Leave us behind and go.” 

“What kind of game are you playing at, fox?” Dutch questioned him. His eyes wide and on him like a man with a gun all lined up with the killing shot. 

“Oh just seeing where this word of yours will end up.”

“My word is good,” Dutch spoke sternly.

“Then show it.” Hosea finally looked him dead in the eyes.

“You will not survive without me,” Dutch muttered with some hate under those words. 

“Well, let's see that.” There was that cocky old fox and Dutch had to give Hosea props for being a stubborn bastard. “And you can let the boy’s free from your hold too,” Hosea added knowing all too well that Dutch, being a sire of their had a hold on over them all and Hosea was going to make him drop it, at least for Arthur and John.

“That’s asking a lot, you know.” Dutch cunning nature was showing, but you had to be good at seeing it or around him just as all as Hosea it sees the hat drop. 

“You didn’t mind taking from me.” Hosea coldly said, “You did not mind or care one bit.”

“You were conscious?” Dutch was shocked and very aware that he had was caught. Red hands down the pants and he could not make this one disappear as he had hoped.

“I felt everything Dutch.” Hosea slowly leaned over and whispered into the shell of his ear. “I would have let you have it” he sighed “If you just asked me nicely.” Hosea was so disappointed in him. 

“Hosea. I.” Dutch had taken the mile and ran with it; there had been no inch give. He had just assaulted his friends and enjoyed the banquet before him without thinking about how Hosea feel or was feeling now. 

“You have a lot of making up to do,” Hosea spoke as Dutch was getting ready to leave the room, forever trying to be the peacemaker maybe he should have tried to be a preacher. 


	9. Chapter 9

John’s anxiety was starting to grow. He could feel Arthur waking up; there was no way he could talk this bull down once stirred up. Both of them were stubborn assholes at the best of times. If Dutch had not been there for him, he would have run off again; something Dutch had said that most childer that left their sire to early did not fair to well on their own. There was a level of guidance needed to pass on from generation to generation.   
  
“Come on, Arthur. Don’t do this to me,” John said, stealing another glance at Arthur slowly coming back to life. Where was Dutch when he needed him to be here, oh yeah he was busy hurting Hosea, and there was nothing John could do about it. John was getting so wrapped up tight in his emotions, betraying and hurting everyone all over again. He felt like a young kid, having to stand there and watch Hosea get beat up.   
  
It all happened when John was fifteen years old, Dutch, and Arthur had gone bounty hunting. Leaving Ms Grimshaw, Hosea and John behind. Hosea had dragged John along to get supplies, Hosea had promised John a treat if he had behaved himself because John was a little bugger when it came to getting new clothes and new schooling supplies. But getting John to do anything, there had to be some reward because John was happy living like a dirty dog if he could.   
  
So John stayed on his best behaviour, cooperating with Hosea on everything and helping the shop boys load up the cart, they were heading back to the general store after Hosea had done some business at the post office. When some men knocked into them, quite rudely bumping into Hosea and knocking John to the ground.  
  
“My word, gentlemen there's no need for this kind of behaviour,” Hosea said, picking John up from the ground and gently shoving him out of the group that was surrounding them. That was a sign to get out of the way. Hosea always knew when his smooth-talking wasn’t going to get him out of harm's way.  
  
“I just don’t like you, that’s all, Sir.” Said the guy who looked like he had a beaver for a face, then within a blink of an eye, they jumped. Hosea managed to knock three of them out, but there were too many of them they soon held Hosea to the ground and started laying into him.   
  
John had tried to jump in, but one of the shop keepers wife had grabbed and pulled him away from the fight. Saying that there was nothing they could do. John could tell that the woman was scared of the men, but it did not stop him from trying to get to Hosea.   
  
So they beat Hosea black and blue and left him there unconscious in the dirt. John had only thought the worst as he ran out to Hosea, he was crying and thinking that Hosea was dead. When the men rode off the townspeople came out to help them and take Hosea to the doctor. John had still gotten his sweets, but it was bittersweet as he sat by Hosea’s bedside, whimpering like a kicked dog. John could not ride on his own, as the roads were dangerous and the night was falling now. John just had to play dumb until Dutch and Arthur found them because Dutch and Hosea still liked to hind away even if they were not in trouble, being a small group was an easy target and Hosea did not like people knowing his spots.   
  
Dutch and Arthur had found them in the early hours of the morning. They had returned to camp to find only Susan Grimshaw worrying her head off about Hosea and John not returning. Dutch had just known that something had happened to them. So they hurried to the town and found them in the doctor's office. John looked like Arthur’s dog when he was miserable and trying to hide his pain away. Hosea was still out cold, as the doctor told them about everything that had happened and about how lucky Hosea was only to suffer bruising and no broken bones. But Dutch still did not take it well, telling Arthur to stay put and watch them, as the man marched over to the sheriff’s office to found out more about this gang of thugs.   
  
It turns out that they were unwelcome guests to this quiet little place and no one could get rid of them. They had lost the past sheriff to them, the bounty hunters had gone missing and some of the men of the town too, no wonder the people from the last stop had warned them to stay clear of this place.   
So Dutch made a deal with the sheriff. They would happily take this gang out for money. The sheriff had tried to talk him out of it, saying that no one could get the group. But Dutch assured the man that they could and would do it.  
  
Dutch had returned to Hosea back on his feet again; Dutch embraced him. “You know you have to try to find another way of making friends.” Dutch joked as he held on tightly to Hosea.   
  
“You know me always, Mr popular. Now are going to get them or sit around thinking about,” Hosea puffed, he was a little stiff and sore, but he wanted to return the favour to those men. John was itching for a fight, but as always he was left behind with Ms Grimshaw. From then on, he swore that he would never be that weak or vulnerable again.   
  
  
  
  



	10. Chapter 10

“I refuse to let you go, Hosea. Even after death, we shall not part.” Dutch harshly spat at him.

There was no way that Hosea was going to let this go. “The mountain doesn’t bow to the wind Dutch, and you are neither of those things. Learn your wrongs, except that you are human and then come back for the punishment.” Dutch quietly nodded as he left.

  
Hosea just wanted to be able to pull himself together again. Promises smashed a vicious cycle of falling down a spiral staircase. He should have run when it first started showing, but you believed in redemption. Dutch was gone, but he will return. His fate to fall and break into pieces, but there was a bigger job to do now, Arthur and John. They were going to be needing him, and Hosea was not going to fail his boys.

  
He was willing himself to drag his now frail limbs, upright against the will to fall back down. Unsetting the dust in the old room and gathering up the clothes Dutch had left for him. “Thinking that you are making the man by providing the necessities is not the lesson that you will be teaching Dutch.” Hosea’s foggy thoughts as he somehow incoherently made his way other to the other room. There was a storm brewing, not just outside, but inside the four-walled room that awaited an entrance.

  
“How dare you tell me that after what you did!” Arthur yelled at John as he shoved him into the wall behind the man’s back, the force knocked two picture frame out of their hooks in the wooden surface.

  
“Arthur, you were dying.” John pleaded

  
“I don’t care.” Arthur snorted, turning away from him. 

  
“Did you want to die?” John question the dumb oath, feeling shook John could not handle all of this right now, he wanted to run away and never come back. 

  
“No” it was a hushed whisper that left Arthurs dry lips.

  
“Can’t you see that I’m selfish,” John said darkly, fine threads of his sanity were weathering away. “For once I wanted you to be happy and alive.” It was not a lie; Arthur did everything and anything for others but not for himself. Was it that bad to want something good for the man?

  
“John, start thinking about yourself for once.” Arthur’s nose wrinkled as it always did when others asked about what he wanted; he did not want to think about himself. He had been neglecting himself for so long that he did not know any other way anymore.

  
“Oh, here we go again.” John hissed at the idiots back, as he was getting riled up now and John was known for having an explosive temper. “When will you bloody listen to me, you fool!” John just jumped on Arthur, grabbing onto his back and throwing punches and low blows with his legs kicking the knees and John was a dirty fighter because most people don’t play fair. 

“Well, then what does the great Johnny Marston care for then” Arthur spat as the both of them rolled around on the floor trying to get the upper hand on the other. “Go on, tell me now, or I’ll never listen to you again.” Arthur was too strong, and he shoved slippery John onto the floor, pinning him down with all of his power, he wasn’t going to give a shit if it was hurting the shit head. 

  
“You, you dumb oath,” John yelled, still trying to kick or bite Arthur.

  
“Now why don’t you two just stop it.”

  
Both men had a fright; they haven’t heard or felt Hosea came into the room. They let go of each other in a hurry, swiftly returning to their feet. “Hosea!” Both of them watched Hosea strolling across the room and stood between them; silence lay thick for a bit; it felt like forever before Hosea decided to speak.

  
“Don’t you two think that this fighting has gone on for too long now?” Hosea puffed, look at his boys with sadness in his old eyes. “I thought that you two would tell the truth to each other and stop the lying and pain.” They could not look at Hosea, this just reminder Hosea of when the boys had done something wrong, and ready for punishment. “This is stupid; here I thought you two were adults and would talk about your feels for each other.” Hosea was not going to be the keeper of secrets anymore; the old Hosea was dead, so he did take it to the grave in away.

  
“You say what?” John blurted out

  
“John, please you being too loud.” Hosea scolded the man, just as he was removing his hand for the sort eardrum. “Goddamit Arthur, it is your turn to say something right about now.”

  
“What?” Arthur was bewildered, never in a million years did he think that Hosea would tell a secret to anyone, but Dutch. Arthur looked at John, seeing the conviction and yearning in his eyes; he felt the same but did not show it.

  
“So much has happed, all will be coming together soon. Just take your time on this for two have forever now.” Hosea said gently with a hand upon each of their shoulders.

  
John cast a glare at Hosea’s suddenly uncovered wrist; it was bruised and angry. “Hosea.” It was a little squeak.

  
Hosea looked at him, knowing what John was now feeling guilty. “Hush now.” He soothed the skinny man. “We have other things to think about now.” He said, pulling both of them into him for a hug. Comforting two big men like this would look funny, but Hosea just wanted to hg them again like when they were little and use to let him do it.   
  
There was going to be for much more hardship ahead of them, but as a family, they could do it, and Hosea knew that John and Arthur could work out their feels for each. It would work, they needed to be each other's light and dark. 


End file.
